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In a surprise move, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has picked an environmentalist critical of his government’s handling of the Alberta oilsands to be Ontario’s new lieutenant-governor.

Irish-born Elizabeth Dowdeswell, a former Saskatchewan high school teacher who is president and CEO of Council of Canadian Academies, has held a number of senior posts nationally and internationally.

Premier Kathleen Wynne described Dowdeswell’s career as “remarkable” and welcomed her to the post Thursday.

“Elizabeth Dowdeswell’s remarkable career and accomplishments make her eminently worthy of this honour,” Wynne said.

“On behalf of the people of Ontario, I want to thank Elizabeth Dowdeswell for accepting this important responsibility. I look forward to the immense contributions she will make to our province in this role,” she said in an email statement.

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Dowdeswell replaces David Onley, who leaves the job after nearly seven years, the longest serving Ontario lieutenant-governor since Albert Edward Matthews, whose term lasted from 1937 to 1946.

Wynne hailed Onley.

David Onley "has been an absolutely exemplary lieutenant-governor," Ontario's premier says. (Chris Young / THE CANADIAN PRESS file photo)

Elizabeth Dowdeswell is the former federal Environment Canada bureaucrat who was chair of a panel in 2010 commissioned that concluded the Alberta oilsands may be a massive threat to water, wildlife and the atmosphere. (Adrian Wyld / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

“David Onley has been an absolutely exemplary lieutenant-governor. It has been a joy to work with him for many years,” Wynne said Thursday at Queen’s Park.

“I knew David Onley when he was a journalist and I was a parent activist and we would meet . . . where he would want to do an interview in schools that were not accessible. He has been such an advocate for accessibility.”

Among Dowdeswell’s vast list of accomplishments, the former federal Environment Canada bureaucrat was chair of a panel in 2010 commissioned by the Conservative government that concluded the Alberta oilsands may be a massive threat to water, wildlife and the atmosphere, but added it was difficult to say for sure because of inability of governments to conduct proper environmental checks.

“Do we have a world-class monitoring system in place? In short, no,” Dowdeswell stated.

Dowdeswell, a former mentor to the Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation, was inducted into the Order of Canada with a rank of Companion in 2012 for her contributions to public and environmental policy.

Previously, she was an undersecretary general of the United Nations, and executive director of the United Nations Environment Program, the first woman to hold that position. There she tackled issues of trade and globalization.

In 1996, she issued a report warning the planet was experiencing an unprecedented mass extinction of species.

The report, called Taking Action, stated the world’s environment was deteriorating in nearly every category — from the water we drink and the air we breathe to the oceans and forests that sustain life.

Dowdeswell estimated then that between 150 and 200 species of life become extinct every 24 hours — a mass annihilation caused by humankind’s unsustainable methods of production and consumption. “We know that if the pollution we’re dumping into the water and the atmosphere around us is affecting insects, birds and then animals — can humans be very far behind?”

“Ms. Dowdeswell has been a tireless proponent of the environment and sustainable development in Ontario and across the country. Her impressive skill set and vast domestic and international experience are exceptionally well-suited to promoting Ontario’s future, and I am confident that she will bring a fresh and dynamic perspective to the position,” Harper said in a release announcing her appointment.

As a former assistant deputy minister for Environment Canada, she was instrumental in global efforts to negotiate the treaty on climate change adopted at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, according to her biography on the website for the Council of Canadian Academies.

In 2002, Dowdeswell was appointed president of the then newly created Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) charged with investigating ways to manage Canada’s used nuclear fuel.

Her early career included Saskatchewan’s positions as deputy minister of Culture and Youth, educational consultant, university lecturer and high school teacher. She holds a master’s degree in behavioural sciences from Utah State University and numerous honorary doctorates.

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